Paris performance pieces: 1. 2, 3, and 4

First.  My talent for finding four-leaf -lovers laid dormant as we went around the world.  But in England, I found a whole handful, and dried them in a notebook.  When I got some out to give Pierre’s family, I learned that Maryvonne has the same talent – “an eye for pattern.”  When I found a handful walking along the banks of the Seine, I really did not need any more.

So I went up to people who were walking – mostly French, some tourists – to try to give away the four-leaf-clovers.  The first few people avoided me completely.  But perhaps I got better with my approach after that, and succeeded in giving away about 10 four-leaf-clovers.  I got lots of “merci.”

Second.  Walking along the Seine approaching the Eiffel Tower, we saw a woman  who was walking with a boy of about 10 stoop to pick up a ring.  I assumed she had dropped it because she did not seem that excited to find it.  But she brought it over to us, asking if we thought it was gold.  We looked, said maybe, and gave it back to her.  We said that she was lucky. 

She tried to give us the ring – because, she said, she did not have papers and could not sell it or turn it in.  We walked on.  She came back to us to try again to have us take the ring, and asked for some money for her son in exchange.  We walked on.

Third.  In about six different spots near the base of the Eiffel Tower, men were playing Three-Card-Montey.  Put the ball under one cup, shuffle the three cups around, and people can put up some money to bet on which cup has the ball.  The minimum bet seemed to be 50 Euros, with the opportunity to double your money.  It did not seem that hard to follow the ball, and some people won, and some people lost. 

We did see him change the ball to be under another cup while someone was attending to making his bet.  It was impossible to tell who was in cahoots with him.  Will says that, at least in faction, you can make $2000 to $4000 per day.  I can almost believe that after seeing the continuous interest in this high stakes game.

Fourth.  A family was living on a mattress on the sidewalk not too far from our station – Republique.  Usually there was a man, woman, and child of about 3, but sometimes, fewer, and sometimes another adult and child.  They were clearly not doing this as a performance piece, but neither were they openly begging.  They has blankets, food, and seemed relaxed.